This application claims benefit of Japanese Applications No. 2001-083001 filed on Mar. 22, 2001, and No. 2002-056297 filed on Mar. 1, 2002, the contents of which are incorporated by this reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus comprising an endoscopic battery-powered light source detachably mounted on an endoscope.
2. Description of the Related Art
Endoscopes have been widely used in the medical field and the industrial field. Endoscopic diagnosis and examination require illumination means because an object to be examined is located in the interior of a living body, a plant, or the like. Therefore, an ordinary endoscope is provided with a light source device as an endoscopic external device.
The light source device contains a lamp, and the illumination light emitted from the lamp is guided to a light guide fiber or the like provided in the endoscope. The illumination light guided to the light guide fiber emerges from an illumination window provided at the distal end of an insertion portion to illuminate an examination site. In the light source device, light is emitted from the lamp by using power supplied from a commercial power supply.
On the other hand, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-153759 discloses an endoscope apparatus comprising a battery-powered light source which uses a dry battery as a power supply and which is detachably attached to a control section of the endoscope. The endoscope provided with the battery-powered light source can be easily carried and used in a place without a power supply, and thus the endoscope is suitable for use in an emergency.
The lamp provided in the battery-powered light source is turned on and off by changing the relative position between the battery-powered light source and the control section of the endoscope after the battery-powered light source is mounted on the control section of the endoscope. This makes it possible to determine from a glance at the appearance whether or not the lamp is turned on. Also, two switch positions are provided for ON and OFF states, and are respectively regulated by both ends of a rotating operation range in which the relative position is changed.
However, in the endoscope apparatus disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-153759, the switch positions are regulated only by a rotation operation. Therefore, the ON and OFF positions of the lamp are fixed. Therefore, in lighting of the lamp, the battery-powered light source possibly interferes with gripping or operation according to the user""s way of gripping the control section of the endoscope.
In addition, when a switch position as a third switch besides the above ON and OFF states is provided in the rotating operation range according to a specified function such as the function to increase the duration time of the battery by decreasing the quantity of light to a level lower than that in the ON state, or the like in order to improve the function of the battery-powered light source, the operation of maintaining the specified function is very difficult. This is because there is no position fixing means for fixing the relative positional relationship between the battery-powered light source and the control section to another state in the rotating operation range. Therefore, even when the third switch is provided in the rotating operation range, the problem of improper moving of the switch position possibly occurs to deteriorate operability.
Accordingly, a first object of the present invention is to provide an endoscopic battery-powered light source permitting a change in the relative position between the battery-powered light source and a control section to obtain good operability.
A second object of the present invention is to provide an endoscopic battery-powered light source comprising another switch position provided in a rotation operation range in which the relative position between the battery-powered light source and a control section is changed, for switching the function to a predetermined state.
A third object of the present invention is to provide an endoscopic battery-powered light source with excellent operability, capable of stably maintaining the relative position between the battery-powered light source and a control section when being rotated to another switch position.
An endoscopic battery-powered light source of the present invention in which the relative position to a control section of an endoscope is changed to switch an illumination lamp to an ON state or OFF state comprises a light source main body containing a battery for supplying electric power for lighting the illumination lamp, a plurality of switch positions provided in a range in which the relative position between the light source main body and the control section of the endoscope is changed, a click mechanical portion provided at at least one of the switch positions, for maintaining the relative position between the light source main body and the control section of the endoscope in a predetermined state and switching the illumination lamp to a predetermined state while maintaining the state of the relative position. Therefore, by providing the click mechanical portion at a switch position within the range in which the relative position is changed, a switch position can be provided at a position besides the regulation positions in the range in which the relative position is changed. Also, a desired function can be given to each of the switch positions, and the functions can easily be switched.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more clearly understood from the following description referring to the accompanying drawings.